Phantom of the Dance Floor
by scintilliania
Summary: Where person A waits for person B, but instead person C appears.


**(I know, I know, I suck at descriptions, hehehe.)**

**This one-shot was written because of my dear friend who's a master of (((weird))) oRiGiNaL ships, and I kinda liked this one, so why not write about it? I have nothing to lose, do I?**

**Actually I have two more ships like that left to write, but mhhh idk. Not now. I'm lAzY aNd SlOw.**

**Please enjoy.**

**Or don't.**

**Whatever.**

_Put on something pretty as if you're going on a date and wait near the fountain._ was all that appeared on Machi's phone screen a couple of days ago, as their Danchou announced an attack on one of the most expensive hotels in Yorknew City as a little practice before their next planned robbery on the Southernpiece Auction; as far as the entire Troupe knew, there were quite pretty, shining and valuable items hidden in the basement that the Spider would gladly catch in its web.

The message, that made Machi sigh deeply and roll her eyes, was obviously from Hisoka who was supposed to be her partner at a banquet in the hotel they were about to rob; because before their Troupe starts having fun in there, somebody has to check this place first and send a signal to the others that the basement, their main goal for tonight, is clear.

Fortunately, thanks to this whole banquet thing, it would be way easier for them to sneak inside, not looking too suspicious as they'd be wandering through the long corridors, looking for anything that looks like a safe.

Unfortunately, at least for Machi who had lost to Shizuku in this stupid Rock Paper Scissors game, she was the one to go there first, dressed up as another hotel guest who was about to join the party; and everything would be fine, if the banquet wasn't this elegant kind of party that only people with their partners could attend. And of all the members of the Troupe, Hisoka had to lose the game as well. Machi knew he did that on a purporse; not because he wanted to spend a good time with her, of course, but because he wanted to annoy her.

And that's how she ended up in a long, red dress she stole a long time ago from some random, expensive shop, her hair falling losely on her shoulders and a bored look on her face as she checked her phone one more time to see if Hisoka finally answered her messeges (_Where the hell are you!? - You better not ruin it this time. - You have 3 minutes to show up. - 2 minutes. - I'm gonna slit your throat. - Okay, you're already dead, bastard. - *Ugly bastard._)

She sat heavily on the edge of the fountain, ran her fingers through her hair and spread her legs a little as she did so, not bothering to look elegant anymore. Okay, she decided to give him five more minutes to show up, but if he's going to be ungrateful again and won't stop trying her patience, she's going to go to the hotel alone, and if they don't let her in she'll kill them all, including Hisoka when she finally sees his annoying face.

Despite the late hours, many people were still strolling the streets, cars honking at one another, but no one dared to come closer to the fountain; except for one single tall figure that appeared behind her back quietly, almost like a ghost, circled the fountain and stood in front of her, looking at her with his big, black eyes. Machi looked up at his pale face, his long, black hair, way prettier and more shiny than her own, moving slightly in the wind as he hung his head to one side, "You must be Machi Komacine." he said. His voice was smooth and calm, but also unnerving and cool at the same time. He looked somehow familiar, though. Machi could've sworn she'd seen him somewhere before.

Machi didn't want to be rude _yet_, but she had way better things to do than talking with this peculiar stranger. He was wearing a black, classic suit that made her wonder if he was going to the same banquet as her. Maybe talking with him wouldn't be a waste of time, then?

"And you are?" she asked, rising an eyebrow.

"Illumi Zoldyck. It looks like you're the one who's supposed to be my partner at the banquet tonight." he answered calmly. Machi windened her eyes slightly; she wasn't surprised of hearing this surname, but him calling her his_ partner on the banquet_ was a completely different thing.

"I'm sorry? I don't remember agreeing to meet here with you." she said sharply, crossing her legs and sending him a questioning look.

"Me neither" he said. "It seems like Hisoka planned it for us."

"What?" it sounded hilarious, but Machi could easly belive it; only Hisoka would do something like that.

"Did you recive any message from him recently?" Illumi asked.

"The last message I've got is from a few days ago, when he told me to-"

"Put on something pretty as if you're going on a date and wait near the fountain." Illumi recited in a monotone voice.

Machi furrowed her eyebrows even more "He didn't say to wait _for him_, did he?" she asked quietly.

Illumi shook his head, "I figured that I wasn't supposed to meet him here when I saw you. Hmmm. That's too bad. I got the invitation, but his name's on it."

"Invitation?" she asked.

"You won't be allowed in there without an invitation." _Wow._ She didn't know that. "Shall we go?"

"Wait." she stood up, "I don't know if you've figured it out yet, but I can't go with you anywhere if you're not a member of the Troupe. How do I know I can trust you?"

"I also have something to do in there and I'm not here to stop you from whatever your boss asked you to do. Besides, we cannot get in there alone anyway." he said, emotionless.

"I see. We're in the same boat." Machi nodded her head. She had no other choice but to trust this stranger. But what if it was a trap? "How do I know I'm not your target?"

"If I wanted to kill you, I wouldn't bother talking to you."

_Come on, Machi. He's an assassin, not an actor._ "Fine. Let's go." she said and walked quickly past him, leaving him behind, but he caught up with her faster than she thought. When they finally got there after a short walk in an awkward silence for Machi and rather pleasant tranquility for Illumi, a lot of people were already inside; rich people in expensive clothes and shining jewelery, drinking punch and chatting jauntily with other guests just to talk about them behind their backs later.

As they stood before the wide opened, golden doors to the hotel, and Machi managed to take one small step inside, she noticed Illumi's bent elbow that stopped her from going any further and his big eyes, now opened a little wider than before as he was looking at her in expectation. She wasn't comfortable with putting her hand on his arm _as if he was her partner at the party_, but did it nonetheless for the sake of their mission; this man was like a living mannequin with painted eyes and a mask instead of a face. Oh yes, it's going to be a long and _funny_ night!

Two doormen in heavy, crimson jackets and tiny, maching caps on the top of their heads opened the doors for them as Illumi handed one of them their invitation, which the hotel employee inspected with a small, polite smile on his face, "Sir Illumi Zoldyck and lady Hisoka Morrow. Welcome to the Goldcrown Hotel." he said and bowed his head, and Machi shivered with disgust at the sound of that name.

They stepped into the biggest room Machi'd seen in a long time, but apparently not big enough to impress someone from such a wealth and powerful family like the famous Zoldyck. Everything around them looked like it was made of gold, including the high ceiling with big, shining chandeliers and the parquet floor, polished so much that Machi felt like she was walking on a big mirror. She looked around the long tables at each side of the room with various exotic food and expensive alcohols she'd gladly take to their temporary Spider hideout so they could celebrate their great robbery later.

Still with her palm on Illumi's arm, she unconsiously tightened her grip a little as she felt him dragging her to the side, closer to one of the tables, but farther from the center of the room; for which she was kinda grateful, but did he really have to do it so unexpectedly? She almost stumbled over her own feet as they finally reached their spot.

"What are we going to do now?" Machi asked, finally taking her hand away.

"Observe." he said.

"I don't have time to just stand there and observe people, especially when I don't even know who am I suppose to look at." she cast him a death, impatient glare, "Let's just split up and take care of our own businesses."

"Not yet. Not if you can do something wrong." he didn't look at her, not even for a second, but she still had the sensation that she was being watched from every side by the deep, black eyes of his.

She turned her whole body to him and rised an eyebrow, her hands clenched into fists, "Why do you even care?"

"Because if you fail and make a chaos, my job will get harder." he answered calmly and turned to the table behind them. Machi squinted her eyes in annoyance. Why was she even listening to him? She'd do best if she'd abandoned him as they walked into the hotel and went to look for the safe herself, but now it was too late, and she knew he wouldn't let her go anywhere without him now. What a selfish, possesive type. At first she thought he might be slightly better and a little less annoying than Hisoka, but now she had her doubts.

Illumi turned back to her, holding two shining glasses with some red liquid inside and handed her one of them, which at first she examined suspiciously before she finally grabbed it. Fortunately, it was just a wine; she didn't know what else would it be, though. "You know we can't just stand here all the time, right?" she asked as she finished her glass and looked at the man on her right who didn't even take a sip yet, eyes focusing on something in a far corner of the hall. "We'll get even more suspicious if we don't move."

The assassin finally looked at her, a strange look in his eyes she didn't expect from somebody like him; was he mad at her or what? "I know." he said; even his tone changed a little, which could only meant that her presence, in fact, irritated him or he started to feel more comfortable around her. Whichever it was, it didn't make Machi feel any safer with him. "We'll wait for more people to show up, then we'll go dancing, and after that we can go our separate ways."

Oh yes, the dancing part. Machi was prepared for it from the beggining; it was the main reason why she didn't want to go there with Hisoka. It was the inevitable part that would help them blend in a crowd and step a little closer to their destination, but also the most awkward and unwanted part for the pink-haired thief; if there was Hisoka, she wouldn't mind stepping on his foot from time to time, breaking all his leg bones and stabbing him with a fork at the end as a big_ thank you_ for their beautiful dance, but since it was the Zoldyck assassin she wasn't as willing to hurt him in any spectacular way nor even make a slight mistake if they, in fact, were dancing. Did she even know how to dance? Probably not, but was it really that hard? Just holding one's hands and moving gently to the music shouldn't be so difficult, right? Right? Ugh. She needed another drink.

Machi turned around to the table and almost grabbed the dark-green bottle with the blood-like, miracolous liquid when she noticed a hand on her wrist, stopping her from reaching any further, "What?" she growled at Illumi and immadietly regreted it, seeing as his eyes ran up from her slender hand to her irritated face.

"Your alcohol tolerance may not be as high as you may think. You should be careful with that if you really want to complete your mission." he said, again his voice was calm and emotionless as she broke her hand out of his grip.

"That's none of your buissness." she said louder than necessary, looked back at the bottle, but shook her head - annoying him by drinking even more of the wine wasn't worth it - and turned around to walk as far away from him as she could.

"Where are you going?" he asked, confused.

"As far away from you as possible." she muttered to herself and dissapeared from his sight; or at least that's what she thought.

After some time of wandering around she finally found a big, round-ish balcony with a great view on the city and stood at the end of it, leaning her elbows on the brick railing, and then her chin on her palm. At first, she wasn't sure if the balcony was really here, but as far as she knew, there's always a big balcony at every banquet where people usually come to look for some peace from the annoying music and even more annoying and fake people from the inside; a special place where only magical and romantic moments happen was now completely empty, and she was really grateful for that. Oh, how dramatic. Her Danchou would probably consider it his life metaphor and find a meaning in every little star shining above his head, but Machi wasn't as extra as him, and instead of analizing her every move she'd rather enjoy the peaceful silence and her own company for as long as she could.

She was wondering was she should do next. Of course, she'll go back there when the dancing starts, but before that she'd have to find her partner, which probably wouldn't be too hard considering it'd be difficult to miss such a robotic man as Illumi, but still . . . And before she could think about anything else, she felt a firm hand on her shoulder and an ominous presence behind her back that made her froze, too afraid to even move her eyes.

"I don't think you understand your current positon. Machi." Illumi said, the same tone as usual, but now Machi thought it was even darker and more threatening than before; and the weird, deadly aura that embraced him like a thick smoke that anyone could easly suffocate with . . . Brrr. "When I said that you can make a chaos and make my job harder, I also meant that you shouldn't go too far away from me. Don't you forget that we came here together just like any of these couples and we should stay that way for the sake of our tasks if we don't want to get anyone's attention. Am I right?"

Machi couldn't move. She gulped, trying not to look too afraid of her own banqet partner, but also not wanting to forget who exactly was standing behind her back and how little chances she had in a possible fight with this man. Still too shocked by his heavy aura, she heard a quiet buzz-like sound and felt his grip getting lighter before his hand completely dissapeared from her shoulder, and Machi could finally sigh with relief.

Illumi pulled out his phone from his pocket and looked at the screen as the white light illuminated his face, making his stoic face look even more grotesque that usual. _That's not how you should treat ladies, Illu_. Illumi read the message from his fellow clown and turned aroud to look up at the high hotel windows, the roof, and even the stoney gargoyles that decorated the sides of the brick walls, smiling down at them with their gloomy grins, but didn't notice anyone suspicious; especially not the man who had the audiacity to call himself his friend and give him his silly advances when he wasn't asked to.

Machi slowly turned around as the assasin's deadly aura dissapeared and got replaced by his regular calm, but also a little frightening attitude, to see Illumi shoving his phone back to his pocket. Before she could do anything else, she heard another small buzz, now coming from the inside of her little handbag and pulled out her own device to see a new message from - oh God, save us - Hisoka. _I hope you have fun~_

_Don't you even dare coming back to the hideout unless you want your head to be severed._ she tappet on the screen as fast as she could, her teeth gritted in annoyance as she had to stop herself from throwing her phone down on the street, and then hid the cell phone back in her handbag.

"Are you angry?" he said, looking at her face with his unreadable, black eyes.

Machi cleared her throat, "No." she answered simply, even though a small flame of irritation was still burning within her, "Is that all you came here for?"

"Good." he answered in a weird, cheerful tone and clapped his hands, "Shall we come back, then? Because the dancing's going to begin soon." How did he managed to switch from his full killing mode to a joyfull-normal-human-being mode was a big secret for Machi and every single person who'd ever had anything to do with this guy.

"Yes, I think so." she said and walked past him just to feel his hand around her waist, pulling her closer to him in a friendly - or maybe even _more than friendly_ \- manner; his ice-cold hand that she could feel even through the material of her dress, cold as a hand of a corpse. Not only he was a death bringer, but also the Death himself. Still, she felt as if his touch was burning her skin, and if they hadn't already gone inside, she'd probably push him away, no longer caring how dangerous he was. She had no other choice but to completely focus on her mission in order to forget about his arm, still not giving up at holding her close to his body; and when she didn't think about it, it didn't feel that bad.

_Yeah, that's better._ another buzzing sound came from Illumi's pocket, but this time Hisoka's message had to be left unread.

They walked into to the main hall where an impressive crowd of people stood in the middle of the parquet, clapping their hands and watching an older man in a suit with a glass of golden champain in his hand and a long snow-white moustache that seemed to be widening along with his smile, "Without further ado, let's enjoy the night together at the great 100th anniversary of the founding of the Goldcrown Hotel!" he said, his arms spread invitingly as another wave of ovation echoed in the whole 12 floor building. It seemed like they came in just at the end of his speech.

"Who's that?" Machi looked at Illumi. She didn't even notice when he took his hand away from her and focused his dark eyes on the man, watching him. And watching. And watching.

"The owner of this hotel." he answered after a while, and she nodded.

The man, that had been in the center of everyone's attention just a moment ago, waved his hand to the small orchestra that stood in the corner of the room with their vintage-looking instruments, and the group of men began to play a soft melody, but people around them refused to go back to their chatting. Instead, some of the men bowed slightly to their female partners, the rest of them just grabbed gently their hands with polite smiles, but in the end every pair on the parquet ended up moving gently to the music, looking deep in each other's eyes.

Illumi stood right in front of Machi, his hand reached out to her. He bowed his head slightly as a tiny smile make its way onto his face, though his eyes stayed expressionless as usual, "Would you like to dance?" he asked as if he'd memorized this line a long time ago, and now he reapeted it like an actor on a stage.

She put her hand on his palm. What was she supposed to say in that situation? "Let's do this quickly" No, that wasn't what she wanted to say, but it was all that left her mouth, and now she couldn't just go back in time and change it, so she made no attempt to correct herself.

He put his hand on her waist again, and she once again had to remain herself what she'd came here for; because she'd never felt that awkward in her entire life. Because, to her surprise, he was a better dancer than she thought, and she felt like a clumsy kid on a school party as she let him lead herself through their dance. She put her hand on his shoulder, trying to look everywhere but in his eyes, though she could still feel them on her face.

"Are you okay?" he asked, suddenly.

She looked up at him, "Why do you ask?"

"Your face is red. It wouldn't be good if you passed out in the middle of the dance. Maybe you want to sit down?"

"No! I'm fine." she said cooly and once again turned her head, feeling as her cheeks turned another shade of crimson.

She looked at the people dancing around them and noticed how close they were to each other, their faces mere centimetres apart as if waiting for their owners to finally close the gap . . . and yet, she and Illumi looked like a pair of strangers who had met each other just before the banquet and decided to dance together because they had no other choice. What was obviously true, but they had to act like it wasn't, but they were failing terribly, and Machi knew it and she wanted to kick him in the leg, but was also too scared he'd kick her back and it'd kill her.

He seemed to notice it too as he glanced quickly at the couple next to them and pulled her closer, but still not too close to make her feel even more awkward or scared of her life. Somehow, so subtly that even Machi couldn't notice, they shifted between the other pairs and stopped on a spot where Illumi leaned over to her and whispered to her ear, "When I give you a signal, we'll go through the doors." they swung around so that Machi could see the doors he was talking about, hidden in a long, elegant hall, still too far away for them to reach; big, heavy doors with golden ornaments and shining handles.

"Got it." she whispered back, and then, with a slight panick, she noticed that the people had stopped. The orchestra finished their song and smiled proudly to the crowd. Machi glanced at some men bowing to their partners and grabbing gently their fragile hands to place a small kiss on the back of their palms as a thank you for their dance; only then they could get off the dance floor and head for the food or take a break on the balcony. Some of them decided to stay and wait for another song, smiling, jiggling and chatting with each other.

Her eyes went back to Illumi. He bowed slightly as well, took her hand in his and brought it closer to his mouth to touch it with his lips. It was far from a kiss, and Machi barely felt that; instead, she felt as if some spirit had just touched her palm with its gentle, invisible fingers and sheepishly ran away. It was as if he already had some kind of experience.

Machi didn't move for a while as she heard that another symphony started to float in the air and make other people dance. Illumi grabbed her one hand, but this time they sidled unnoticed through the rest of the guests and stopped in front of the doors where Illumi pulled out one of his needles at the speed of light and managed to put it into the key hole, moving it a few times before the locker let out a small _click_ and both of them slipped in, without knowing what was waiting for them on the other side; and the whole action didn't take them more than five seconds.

To their surprise, they found themselves in a tiny elevator with shining, metallic walls and circular buttons glowing with small, colorful lights. "An elevator . . ." Machi said, looking up at the ceiling made of the same material as the walls where she could see the reflection of their heads, "Whatever. I need to get to the basement."

Illumi pushed one button and the machine started to go down so smoothly she could barely feel it. She leaned her back against the wall and looked down at the back of her palm while Illumi remained in his place, waiting for the doors to open. "You didn't have to do this. We could go through the dance without doing that." she said monotonously, almost mimicking Illumi's tone while she still couldn't take her eyes of her palm. She wasn't used to be kissed on hand, that's all.

Illumi turned his head and said, "I had to. That's the custom."

"We're not here to be a part of this anyway." Machi shook her head slightly.

"We couldn't look suspicious." he turned his head back to look at the doors. The elevator doors finally opened, but none of them left the machine yet.

"Haven't you said that we can go our separate ways after the dance?" she asked. "Why are you still here?"

"Haven't I told you I also have something to do here?" he asked and stepped out of the elevator, not giving her a chance to answer. Machi left the machine and stopped next to Illumi to see what he was looking at; a long, long empty and cool corridor with nothing but big heavy doors at the end, almost like the elevator ones, but way bigger and with a small screen on one side. There it was, the safe she was looking for, or at least that's what it looked like. She looked up at the ceiling, looking for some cameras or anything that could follow their moves and send the picture to the right people, but there was nothing suspicious and it made her feel like something wasn't quite right.

She wanted to look at Illumi to seek any consent from him, but decided not to; he wasn't her boss after all, and he was already looking at the other side of the corridor as if waiting for something to happen. She shrugged her shoulders and put one step forward at the same time as a loud sound of heavy boots hitting the floor echoed in the hall, running towards them in an inhuman speed, and then at least eight weaponized poeple, all dressed in black and with long, heavy-looking riffles appeared on the other side of the hall, though it didn't take long for them to collapse unconsiously on the floor. Illumi stood in the middle of the lying bodies, his shining nen-needles in his palm while some of them were sticking out of the bulletproof vests of the probably dead guards.

"There may be more in the safe." he said.

"What?" Machi asked quickly before a red, flickering light shone in the entire hall and an ear-piercing sound alarmed said guards to run out of the safe and point their riffles at Machi, still running towards them. "Idiots. You're standing on my way." she muttered to herself as she started to run in their direction, avoiding every bullet flying in her direction, kicking one of the men in his stomach so hard he had to bend over and drop his riffle which she gladly picked up, pointed at the rest and before she could shot them all in the heads, the only uncovered parts of their bodies, they ended up on the floor with Illumi's needles sticking out of the back of their necks.

"Thanks for your help partner, but I can handle myself just fine." she said, this time a little annoyed; she highly doubted it was also his buissness to kill the guards that stood on_ her_ way to_ her_ destination where she could call to her boss that the way to their great treasure was clear.

"Don't mention that." he said casually as if he didn't hear the growing flame of anger in her voice.

"Tsk." she turned her head away from him to look back at the now opened safe where an elderly man in a suit appeared; the same man that gave his speech some time ago, just before they started dancing - the owner of the hotel, or at least that's what Illumi had said.

"Funny." he said, his lips forming a small smile under his white moustache, "Is this my turn now?"

"Only if you don't step back." she said, looking at the man through the sight, waiting for him to move out of her way.

"I must say, I'm impressed. Is it just two of you?" he smiled even wider, "I know you're not here to kill me, you just want what's in the safe, don't you?" he chuckled, definitely too sure of himself, "I do remember well when some assasins were trying to kill me, but they could never defeat my bodyguards so they've never reached me. I'm surprised that some thiefs have just managed to make such mess, but maybe I shouldn't underestimate you, hm?" he made one step forward, "Put it down, huh? If you want my precious treasure, and not my life then-" _BANG._

"Why not both?" Machi asked as the man collapsed on the floor, the bullet went through his skull leaving his face covered in blood from his forehead and his eyes and lips still opened slightly in shock. Machi turned to Illumi, "I don't know what are you going to do now, but I'm going to call the other Spiders and wait here until they show up so you can go now and do whatever you wanted to do. What?"

Illumi's face wasn't much different from the face of the dead man lying at the door, almost as pale as him, his mouth opened slightly and a weird look in his eyes, before he grabbed his chin with his thumb and his pointing finger and focused his gaze on the corpse, "Hm. That's too bad."

"What?" Machi asked, curiously.

"He was my target. I was about to kill him myself, but I let you scare him a little, because I didn't think you could really do it." he said, hanging his head to one side, "Well, I messed up."

"Oh." she said, "But you killed these guys. Isn't that enough?" she pointed at the rest of the dead bodies on the floor with the end of the riffle in her hand.

"Nobody's gonna pay me for the guards." he said, almost . . . sadly?

"I'm sorry it was a waste of time for you, then, but at least I'm pretty satisfied." she said, turning around and going into the safe honestly happy with herself, though she decided to keep her cold face a little longer; and when she finally got inside, she felt even better. She almost couldn't see the colour of the floor under the big, heavy wooden chests, sacks filled with jewelery and gold, shining pieces of armor scattered all over the mounts of golden coins, blood-red pieces of expensive materials covering God only knows what else was there and other things she hasn't noticed yet, because she decided to immadietly text the rest of the Troupe to inform them of her finding.

**Shalnark:** _Congrats!_

**Feitan:** _Send photo._

**Nobunaga:** _No!_

**Nobunaga:** _Let me see it with my own eyes._

**Uvogin:** _I want to see it to!_

**Uvogin:** _We are on our way._

**Shizuku:** _Stay were you are Machi, ok?_

**Machi:** _Np._

**Machi:** _Can I ask you something?_

**Machi:** _Does anyone have any idea where Hisoka is?_

**Feitan:** _Here._

**Machi:** _What?_

**Nobunaga:** _He stayed in the hideout._

**Nobunaga:**_ He said the plans have changed and you wanted to go with someone else._

**Machi:**_ What the hell?_

**Shalnark:** _Who's that, Machi?_

**Feitan:**_ Really? Who that?_

**Nobunaga:** _We're all here so it's someone out of the Troupe._

**Nobunaga:** _Am I right?_

**Shalnark:** _Let's hope Danchou doesn't find out~_

**Chrollo:**_ That's quite unexpected. Who's that Machi?_

**Machi:**_ It's a long story!_

**Machi:**_ Just come here already._

She sent the last message as another one popped on her screen, this time on a private chat.

**Hisoka:** _Wow._

**Hisoka:** _Missed me~?_

**Machi:** _The hell did you just do!?_

Unfortunetly, she didn't recive an answer. She came out of the safe for a second to check the hall and noticed that Illumi was already gone and didn't even say goodbye. Well, he's job here was done, no? She would probably do the same. No, she wouldn't; she would at least thank him for his help. She turned back and metally shrugged her shoulders. This guy was on a completely different level than any of the people she'd ever met.

* * *

"I thought you were long gone. What else do you need from here?" she asked her ex-banqet partner as she and the rest of the Troupe left the hotel with all the valuable items they wanted and all the exotic food and expensive alcohols they were about to consume later in their hideout, and she stayed behind to talk to the assassin who leaned his back against the wall outside the hotel and straightened when he noticed the thief coming closer to him.

"It'd be rude if I left without saying goodbye. Do you think we were convincing enough as a couple?" he asked suddenly, and Machi had to take one step back out of surprise.

"What question is that? Does it even matters?" she asked, "I don't know. Maybe not. But the mission is over so don't think about it anymore, okay?"

"Yeah, I think so, too." he said, looking into the distance. "It would've been a lot better if we had talked like a couple as well."

"No. It was perfectly fine as it was." she shook her head and was about to go after her fellow Spiders, shout a goodbye over her shoulder and left him standing were he was, but then he said something that made her stop and look at him questioningly.

"That's too bad I didn't have the opportunity to test any of the pick-up lines I've memorized . . ." he murmured quietly, and Machi could barely hear what he was saying, but when she finally understood the meaning of his words, she took a couple more steps back.

"Danchou is waiting for me. I must go." she said, but once again she didn't have a chance to escape this man as he got closer to her and shoved his hand to his pocket to pull out a deck of cards.

"Choose a card." he said and brought his fan of cards closer to her.

"Never take any advances from Hisoka ever again." she furrowed her eyebrows.

"Really? He said you'd like it." he hung his head to one side, his voice cold as always.

"Hisoka has a false image of me in his head." she really wanted to decline his proposal, but she knew he won't let her go without pulling one card and she didn't want to drove him angry again (she'd seen enough earlier on the balcony) so she reached for a card which turned out to be ace heart with a long number written on it with a pen. Was that . . . a phone number?

"Congratulations. You win my number." he said, a small smile on his face.

"Let me guess. You wrote your number on all the cards." she rised an eyebrow, "Hisoka did that to Danchou once, but he threw the card away later."

"But you can keep it. If you ever want me to kill someone for you, you can just call me."

"Thanks." she said, and to her own surprise, shoved the card to her handbag, "Kill Hisoka for me, then." she turned around and finally walked away to join her group, waiting for her on the other side of the hotel.

"Understood." Illumi said to himself and also vanished somewhere in the dark and quiet streets of Yorknew City.

**(ekhm, ekhm, just corrected some typos and grammar errors (((because I'm bad at grammar as well~))) but still don't be afraid to point me out some mistakes if you find them, bye-bye!)**


End file.
